Thursday, 23 January 2014

I think collaborative beers between two (or more) breweries get a bit of a harsh rap at the moment. Lots of people seem to say that they're 'novelty beers', or 'one-offs' that are marketed at just the beer fan boys/beer geeks/hipster beer noobs who will 'obviously buy them' even though the price might be a little higher..

Let's look at that point first. Price. Yes 99% of the time the colab beers are a little more expensive, but if anyone actually took two seconds to think of why that might be the average joe might not run straight to the response of "It's just another one of those expensive limited beers that the posh beer geeks buy"..

If there are two brewers working on the same project, do you think they're going to spilt one brewers wages between them?? I reckon that might have a little something to do with price margins...

These brewers don't just do the colab beers to satisfy the supposed 'geek market' either. It's a fantastic opportunity for brewers to work together on a beer and share knowledge together. One might learn new techniques from the other and vice versa.. The other might use new ingredients they've never heard of before! It's in a brewers interest to try colab brewing really if they're interested in expanding and growing their information banks on beer. Show me a brewer who knows everything about beer and I'll show you a person who's stopped caring about brewing.

It's a really juicy beer, full of fruit, plenty of fresh (not dusty/dry) American hops. It also has a great amount of caramel malt backbone to give it a depth of flavour that I've rarely seen in a amber ale! I think the addition of wheat and chocolate malts not only adds a slight sweetness to the beer but also a really pleasant softness making it very drinkable. It's one hell of a beer! I may even go so far as to say the best beer I've ever had from Red Willow..

More of this please!

At the end of the day, if collaboration beers still aren't your thing, no one's forcing you to buy them...

Friday, 10 January 2014

Pfffttt.. A misery of a month. Dark days, cold nights and generally constantly wet. It always baffles me then why people choose to make themselves even more miserable by choosing this month (of all of them!) to stop drinking! Why would you deny yourself the one simple pleasure to make the month go just that little bit quicker? In case you didn't know, the liver is the most bad ass organ you have which can recover from any punishment you might think it has received over Christmas in a couple of days!

January is the one month of the year when local off licenses (like ours) and local pubs look over the takings sheets and start to have a little panic. "It's always slow in January" we'll tell ourselves, but should it really be? And could we be doing more to encourage more (but certainly responsible) drinking to lift the spirits in this dark and weary month?

It's how I always like to say... Don't drink more, and don't drink less! Just drink better. There's no hidden meanings in this, I just mean drink better.. have a better attitude to alcohol. If you think you need to take a month off at the start of the year then I really don't think you have a healthy attitude (or lifestyle) towards alcohol. Look further into the reasons why you feel you should be having such a big break from the good stuff. I know we all get a bit more merry than normal around Christmas, but we shouldn't let things get so bad that abstinence should be the option. I mean, I like a pie for dinner from time to time, but I never have so many as to say - I can't eat those for a month now...
I think you know what I'm trying to say... even so, we all know January sucks... But don't forget about us. We, the little locals who don't have big people backing us up in the slow times. Little locals that depend on the people's trade, *your* trade. We are more grateful than you can know for your trade.

And I can tell you this for certain, it's a service we are very happy, and proud to deliver.

Me under the white sheet

One Ghost's journey through the world of beer, and an insight into said journey through random ramblings.
A beer drinker. A beer maker. A beer seller and a beer writer. Don't get me wrong though... it's not all about the beer, I also have a degree in woodwork too, so I could probably make some casks for you. It's really not all about the beer though, I also love my Scotch too, probably a little too much...
Give me Imperial Stouts and Single Malts to end the day and I'm a happy man. If you want to know anything more give me an email at Mc_WillBob@hotmail.com